Every 10 Minutes Spent Commuting Costs You 10% of Your Friends

Commuting is a pain. Literally. According to Slate's Annie Lowrey, "one in three workers with a 90-minute daily commute has recurrent neck or back problems." It's also killing our social lives. Not only are obesity and the number of vehicle miles traveled directly correlated, "every 10 minutes spent commuting results in 10 percent fewer social connections." Even those married commuters who've beaten the odds are 40 percent likelier to get a divorce if their commute exceeds 45 minutes.

Lowery writes, "It correlates with an increased risk of obesity, divorce, neck pain, stress, worry and sleeplessness. It makes us worry and exercise less." And, yet, a lot of continue to do it. "About 3.5 million Americans commute a whopping 90 minutes each way," she writes. "They collectively spend 164 billion minutes per year shuttling to and from work."

News reports are focusing on the Germanwings pilot's possible depression, following a familiar script in the wake of mass killings. But the evidence shows violence is extremely rare among the mentally ill.